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Jul 29, 2012 at 12:01 AMJul 29, 2012 at 11:20 AM

If substantiated, the attendance-rigging by Columbus City Schools officials is staggering in its scope. Not just the sheer size of the numbers involved - 2.8 million student absences allegedly erased over 51/2 years - but in the betrayal of district taxpayers, voters, parents and students.

If substantiated, the attendance-rigging by Columbus City Schools officials is staggering in its scope. Not just the sheer size of the numbers involved — 2.8 million student absences allegedly erased over 51/2 years — but in the betrayal of district taxpayers, voters, parents and students.

Such a scheme would artificially inflate the district’s academic rating, thus deceiving school-levy voters and parents, and allow the district to collect more in state financial aid than it should have. State Superintendent Stan Heffner has said that if the allegations are proved true, he will press for criminal and civil penalties against those responsible. This is appropriate.

Already, Columbus City Schools Superintendent Gene Harris and school board president Carol Perkins have increased suspicion by attempting to intimidate district’s internal auditor, who is conducting an in-house investigation of the attendance-record tampering.

Internal auditor Carolyn Smith sent a memo to school-board members on Wednesday saying that Perkins had pressured her to cut short her work and filter her findings through Perkins and Harris. Smith deserves praise for outing this blatant intimidation effort and standing her ground.

It is evidence of remarkable ignorance or arrogance that the two highest officials in the district would attempt to interfere with an independent investigation of wrongdoing. School-board member Mike Wiles understands the gravity of what Perkins and Harris did and should be commended for calling on them to cease their interference with the auditor.

Harris, especially, should avoid any appearance of interference with the auditor. The attendance records under scrutiny were certified and signed by Harris and the school district treasurer.

Ohio Auditor Dave Yost is working with Smith to determine whether her district withdrew and re-enrolled students, rigging millions of attendance records to erase absences and kick their test scores out of the schools’ proficiency-test statistics. This would boost district’s state ratings and per-pupil funding. But it also would dupe taxpayers and parents and write off struggling children by denying them the tutoring needed to pass the state tests.

After two other Ohio districts, Toledo and Lockland, were caught “scrubbing” their records, Yost last week announced this cheating might involve districts around the state and questioned if the Ohio Department of Education was complicit. He has broadened his investigation to scrutinize every district, charter school and the department.

It is imperative that the investigation into cheating in Columbus and other districts not be hobbled by pressure or lack of resources. To that end:

• In Columbus, Harris and Perkins must stay away from the internal auditor while she conducts her investigation. Yost and Heffner should use their authority to ensure that the internal auditor’s independence is protected.

The investigations should be carried out expeditiously, not dragged out for months. Yost should spend what is necessary to marshal the staff and resources to conduct an effective probe. He can charge the costs back to the school district.

The state should set up a confidential tip line, so that Ohio’s teachers and administrators can offer information without fearing retribution.

The actions of Smith, Yost and Heffner signal that cheating will not be tolerated and that the state will vigorously protect the data it uses to evaluate whether schools are effective.

Heffner made this crystal clear on Wednesday when, acting on a tip, he came down hard on Lockland School District, near Cincinnati, for data-scrubbing. Lockland’s report card was downgraded instantly from “Effective” to “Continuous improvement.”

Lockland scrubbed the attendance records of 37 students. While vastly fewer than the 2.8 million records at the center of the Columbus probe, the technique mirrors what is alleged in Columbus:

The district, at first, counted as many students as possible to nab the maximum share of per-pupil funding from the state. It then retroactively withdrew students with poor attendance records and later re-enrolled them. These students, however, had never left the district; some were still attending classes.

But during the phantom break in attendance, the students’ lower standardized-test scores didn’t count against the district’s overall performance. And, once they were re-enrolled, scrubbing their absences from the records didn’t count against the district’s attendance rates.

Now you see them. Now you don’t.

Officials of the Toledo Public Schools said they thought such retroactive adjustments are allowed, but have since ordered a halt to data manipulation.

Did the district really climb out of the cellar, going from an F to a C? Or was everybody so eager to claim progress in these high-stakes ratings that they resorted to cheating?

The state devised its standards and report cards to hold educators accountable for results, to measure student progress, to marshal remediation so that kids get the best possible education and to equip parents so that they can make informed school selections. But these goals were subverted if school officials have been fixing data.

The Columbus school district has been troubled for many years. This typically was ascribed to poor management on the part of the school board and district administration. But if the records-scrubbing scheme is substantiated, it will mean that the district is in the grip of something far worse: systemic corruption.

When children cheat in school, if they so much as peek at another’s paper, they are swiftly punished. No excuses accepted. What happens when schools cheat? And how can cheating educators expect any better of their students?

The probe should be pressed with vigor and speed, so that if the allegations are proved a better lesson can be taught: that cheaters and liars are called to account for wrongdoing.

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